Sulfamoyl urea compounds and their use for the control of noxious plant species are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,622,065 and 5,009,699, among others. This well-known class of herbicides, however, may cause injury to certain important agronomic crops.
The use of chemical antidotes to protect crops from injury due to sulfonyl urea herbicides is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,343,649 and 4,584,010 and in Japanese Patents 61-112003, 62-263104 and 62-56406. However, there is no method described in the art to protect crop plants against injury due to the application of a sulfamoyl urea herbicide.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a method to safen rice, one of the world's most important economic crops, against the phytotoxic effects of the sulfamoyl urea class of herbicides.